The Thursday Update

JULY 3, 2025

Lakeshore Friends,

I want to use my weekly update this week as part 2 of my update last week. In light of all that has been going on between Iran and Israel since October 7, 2023, including the direct war that has been going on for three weeks, I feel the need to share my thoughts on what is happening from a biblical perspective and to examine if these events have any significance in God’s prophetic plan for the future.

Last week, I addressed “What’s Happening With Iran?” Today, I’ll address, “What’s Happening With Israel?” Feel free to forward this to friends who may have a curiosity as to what’s happening in the world today.

Let me start by addressing an important issue related to Israel. Churches have taken two very different views of the meaning of Israel in the New Testament.

1. At Lakeshore, as well as many Bible-believing churches, we take the view that Israel refers to the national, ethnic, religious people of God that began with Abraham (born about 4,150 years ago), through his son Isaac, and through his son Jacob (who later had his name changed to Israel). When the New Testament speaks of Israel, it refers to literal Israel in their land today, as well as those of this lineage through Jacob who are not living in the land today. This is called the Dispensational view, and it is based on a biblical method of interpretation that uses a literal, plain, historical grammatical approach. So “Israel” always refers literally to the people of Israel. It is very simple and straight forward.

2. There are other churches like the Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, and others in mainline and liberal denominations that take the view that the church replaces Israel and that many of the promises made to Israel in the Old Testament will now be fulfilled by the Christian Church and not by biblical, literal Israel. So the promises and prophecies made to Abraham concerning the restoration of Israel into the land and its blessings are interpreted as being somehow fulfilled in the church and not taken literally for the people of Israel. This is called replacement theology and it is based on a biblical interpretation method that uses “spiritualization” and “allegory” to interpret the Bible, not the literal, plain, historical grammatical method of biblical interpretation used in Dispensationalism. They believe that today, God is done dealing with the nation of Israel.

We believe very strongly that the Dispensational view—that Israel refers to literal Israel in the New Testament—is essential to properly understanding the Bible, and that the Replacement Theology view does significant damage to both the right understanding of the Bible and to the character of God Himself. And when you “allegorize” and “spiritualize” the Bible, interpretation becomes very subjective to the wishes of the reader and not very objective to the original meaning of the Bible itself.

As an example, when God promised Abraham (see Genesis 15:18-21) land that Israel has never fully claimed to this day, then either He will fulfill it in the future literally (the right, literal view of Israel) or He has broken His promise and they will not inherit it (the wrong, spiritualized view of Israel). There are many other promises that God would have to break to national Israel for anyone to embrace Replacement Theology. I believe that it is both a wrong and dangerous view.

More: If you want to know more about why a literal view of Israel is far superior to the spiritualized view of Replacement Theology, watch this video.

1. Israel always has been and always will be the center of God’s plan for the world.

   From the twelfth chapter of the Bible through to the very end 1,177 chapters later, Israel is the focus of God. The Old Testament is the story of Israel’s birth, history, conquest, divided empire, fall, and restoration back into their land. The New Testament is the story of Jesus coming to Israel to offer Himself to be their king (John 1:11a), their rejection of Him as their King (John 1:11b, Matthew 23) and the final destruction of their temple in 70 A.D. But it is also the story of how His plan for Israel is not over but only put on “pause”. That is where we are today. 
   
   During this present “pause” on His final plan for Israel, God is using this time to bring non-Jewish people (Gentiles) into His family by faith in Jesus Christ (John 1:12). It is called “the church age” and it began on the day of Pentecost (50 days after the resurrection of Jesus, see Acts 2), and it will last until every Christian is taken from the earth in a single moment in the future at the event known as the Rapture of the Church. When that happens, the church age is over, and God resumes His plan for Israel in the final seven years of life on earth before His return. So while the church is the place where people come to faith today, Israel will return to the center of God’s plan after the Rapture when the church is removed from the earth one day.
   
   

2. Israel today has (by and large) not accepted Jesus as their Messiah, but God is still at work to prepare their future.
   
   The book of Romans in the New Testament speaks about the Gospel of Jesus Christ in incredible detail. In its sixteen chapters, the Apostle Paul covers the subjects of sin (Romans 1:1-3:23), salvation (Romans 3:24-5:21), sanctification (Romans 6-8) and service (Romans 12-16). In between, Romans 9-11 covers God’s plan for Israel in His sovereignty. It answers the question, “If Israel rejected Jesus as their King at His first coming, is He done with them?” with a resounding answer: “Not at all!” In fact, Romans 11 says some incredible things about Israel’s future. Consider:
   
   I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel: 3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”[a]? 4 And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”[b] 5 So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. Romans 11:1-5, NIV
   
   I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, 26 and in this way[e] all Israel will be saved. Romans 11:25-26a, NIV
   
   From these passages we see that God has not rejected the nation and people of Israel. Today there are only a small number of Jewish believers because many are hardened toward faith in Jesus until all the Gentiles (non-Jews) that God has called will come to faith. At that point, God will cause a national conversion in Israel to take place and “all Israel will be saved.” How could anyone think that God does not have a plan for Israel?

3. Israel will be the focus of the final seven years of the tribulation period that ends with the return of Jesus Christ. Then, God will fulfill all His promises to Israel.
   
   Before the day when all Israel will be saved, many prophecies must be fulfilled. They include:

   1. The Rapture of the Church (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18). The next great event in biblical prophecy will occur at a time no one knows. Every true Christian will be taken from the earth to be with Jesus in heaven. Everyone else will be left behind to face the worst times that the world has ever seen.

   2. The Gog Magog Invasion of Israel (Ezekiel 38-39). I covered this in last week’s email, but sometime just after the Rapture, Russia, Iran, and Turkey will lead a coalition of other nations to join them in attacking the land of Israel. They will do so when Israel is living without walls and in a perceived time of peace and security (which is not the case right now, but could be soon) and when these nations invade to capture resources from the land. This time, it will not be the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) that protects and defends Israel but God Himself (Ezekiel 38:18-23).

   3. The Seven Year Tribulation (Revelation 6-19, Matthew 24:1-29). Shortly after the two aforementioned events occur, Israel will have a peace treaty between her and her enemies brokered and confirmed by a future world leader known as the Antichrist (Daniel 9:27). Israel will think it has found true peace, but it will only be a false peace (1 Thessalonians 5:1-3) brokered by a false leader who is empowered by Satan himself (Revelation 13:1-8). It will begin the seven-year tribulation described in the book of Revelation. It will be a time of incredible trouble for the world as God pours out His judgment on sin and those who rejected Jesus. This is the final 7 years of life on earth as we know it and it will be so bad that people will suffer in ways the world has never seen.

   4. The Second Coming of Jesus (Revelation 19, Matthew 24:30-31). After the seven years have passed, Jesus will return to earth with His angels and with Christians who were part of the Rapture (Revelation 19:14) to establish His rule and reign over all the earth.

   5. The 1,000 Year Reign Of Jesus On Earth (Revelation 20). Israel and the capital city of Jerusalem will become the place where Jesus Christ returns to rule and to reign over the world in fulfillment of God’s covenant with Abraham (Genesis 12:1-3, Genesis 15) and with David (2 Samuel 7:12-16). Jesus will rule the world in righteousness and it will be a time of universal world peace (Isaiah 2:2-4, 9:7, 11:4,11:9, 65:20-25, Zechariah 14:16, Luke 1:32-33). And on that day, everyone will love the people of Israel! Consider these verses:
      
      I will bring my people Israel back from exile. “They will rebuild the ruined cities and live in them. They will plant vineyards and drink their wine; they will make gardens and eat their fruit.15 I will plant Israel in their own land,never again to be uprooted from the land I have given them,” says the Lord your God. Amos 9:14-15, NIV
      
      This is what the Lord Almighty says: “In those days ten people from all languages and nations will take firm hold of one Jew by the hem of his robe and say, ‘Let us go with you, because we have heard that God is with you.’” Zechariah 8:23, NIV

So what should we be doing today in light of God’s everlasting love for Israel and His clear plan for their future?

1. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem and Israel regularly (Psalm 122:6). Amidst all the hate they are experiencing in the world, pray for their peace. 
   
   

2. Make sure that you are right with God through faith in Jesus (Romans 10:9-10). Are you ready for the Rapture and sure you will not be left behind? Are you absolutely certain that you are a Christian? Are you living for Jesus today? Are you living a godly life? Are you telling people about Jesus? Are you inviting people to church?

Warmly,
Vince